‘Radhe Radhe’ – A Story of Love for the Supreme in Dallas, TX

The Greater Dallas Metroplex was blessed with the divine performance of Musical Orchestra and Radhe Radhe , a story of love of the supreme, presentated by Global Organization for Divinity, DFW chapter in association with Ellora Center for Perfoming Arts, on 7th December, 2014 at Nimitz High School Auditorium.
The much awaited event rightfully started off with Mrs. Uma Rao presenting to the audience the introductory message of His Holiness Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji. In his message, he expounded the four precepts of Krishna bhakti: pilgrimage to Brindavan, scriptures of Srimad Bhagavatam, singing Krishna’s divine names and service to Radha Krishna. He also explained why Radha Rani is not mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavatam despite her high standing in the hearts of saints and how Uddhava understood the true meaning ofBhakti on visiting Brindavan.
Choreography Director, Mrs. Vani Ishwara made excellent use of about 30 young dancers to bring the story alive. The Program started with Madhuryam, an excellent musical journey where 25 young artists from Sai Orchestra and Gopa Kuteeram of Dallas Metroplex brought a musical treat of various kirtans of Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji, rightly accompanied by western instruments, Dholak and mridhangam. The children sung as one voice with perfect pronounciation as majority of them didn’t know a word of Tamil language, no words to express the talent, commitment, discipline and hardwork these children put forth in bringing out such a harmonious performance . Our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the Sai Orchestra and the excellent teachers Sriniji, Prasannaji, Veenaji and Lalitha ji. The successful performance was made possible by the mic and sound arrangements of Jayanth Ramaniji, Nani Ishwaraji and Vasanth Sankar and our sincere thanks to them for their great effort.
Once the soulful music mesmerized us, the stage was transformed into a mystical place with hard working volunteers set the stage up for the beautiful performance and kept everyone enthralled through the performance by their lighting and stage accompaniments. Our sincere thanks to Smt. Meenakshiji and Nani Ishwaraji for their dedication and hard work. The story started with mother Kalavathy and King Vrushabanu longing for a child and how they were blessed with a daughter who was none other than the divine consort of the Lord,Mahalakshmi herself. When the little Radha called for Krishna with her most sweetest voice and perfect expressions, tears rolled down our cheeks, Kudos to Mrs.Vani Iswara for being able to bring out subtle expressions from this just 5 year old child, and made everyone’s hearts melt.
The raaga (melody), thalam/jathis (beat), sruthi (pitch), layam (tempo), nrityam (dance poses), bhakti bhaavam (expression of devotion for the divine) all synchronized as the songs and the dance complemented each other beautifully the essence of unconditional, and divine love, that one can transport to, for the Supreme through the story of Radha’s Rani who right from her birth through her childhood and growing years held Lord Krishna in every breath of hers and was in the constant remembrance of HIM.
This unconditional love conquers Krishna who also cherishes his Radhe. As the song, ‘Kuzhalosai seigindran’ took off in a majestic way in the background in the kingly Kharakarapriya ragam (melody), the ever radiant lord appears with a charming smile in front of Radha, playing ‘Radhe Radhe’ in his flute. The two spend time wrapped up in their love for each other and seeing the Divine couple, even Shiva turns out ecstatic in Brindavan as we could all witness from Aditya Ishwara’s awesomely thundering Shiva thandavam/dance. The forests of Brindavan where Radha and Krishna commenced their days of togetherness, were brought live to all our eyes as each dancer excelled in his/her given role, be it deer or a peacock, or a gopika- all in unison and in communion with the nature and the scene was oozing with beauty with the brilliant lighting effects.
The beautiful composition ‘Ravinandinee Karaiyil’, woven with a garland of ragas presents the various well known pastimes of Krishna through the eyes of Radha, who dreams and yearns for her childhood playmate recalling his stealing butter, dancing on the serpent Kaliya’s head and his magical flute that mesmerized the gopis. The melodious song and the scintillating dance awakened the Radha in each and everyone through the evergreen bhoopalam and bilahari, exuding positivity and happiness. Further, the sweet melodies set in Saraswathi and Kambhoji made the audience delightfully experience the pastimes of Krishna and finally put all of our hearts to rest in Krishna’s bliss through the becalming notes of Neelambari.
The pinnacle of the entire dance was the pinnal-kollattam (pinnal meaning plait and kolattam meaning stick-dance) that offered a great variety of entertainment to spectators as well as the dancers. About 10-12 dancers went around each other in intricate patterns, playing with the sticks, so that the colored ropes hung from a single point above that they held on to form into a plait as they danced around and then they unraveled the ropes by reversing the dance steps. The song, the rhythmic sounds produced by the striking of the sticks,and the formation and dissolution of complex patterns that the dancers made it appear so simple and lively with their perfectly coordinated synchronized movements was all incredibly marvelous and created a festive atmosphere that was enjoyed
by one and all. One could realize the tremendous efforts put forth by Smt. Vani Ishwara and Sri Nani Ishwara in over- coming obstacles and emerging gloriously through the grace of Lord Krishna. This blissful state, however, is short lived as Krishna leaves for Mathura to fulfill his destiny and Radha is heart-broken. But her love never wavers and actually, intensifies in separation which is again portrayed beautifully in the two compositions, ‘Azhaikindraan kannan’ and ‘Premika varadanai’, sung in emotionally pleasing Kaanada and Mukhari raagas that brought tears in the eyes of some viewers who for moments personified themselves as Radha through the expressions of the dancer Radha. As Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji says, God HIMSELF does not give us bhakti but we understand the concept of bhakti thro’ HIS devotees’ unconditional deep love for God, which may be difficult to comprehend for people at times. The divine causeless /selfless love of Gopis for Krishna was beyond human comprehension, hence the Lord sent His loyal friend Uddhava to understand this kind of Prema Bhakthi, that as soon as he entered the hallowed land of Brindavan he immediately rolled on the dust of the sacred land so as to show us mere mortals the level of unconditional state of pure divine love that these Gopis showered towards our Lord. This presentation made everyone shed tears of joy and gratitude to Vani Ishwara and Uma Ranganathan and all the wonderful dancers for bringing this divine ballet on stage to elevate us to the level where we can at least try to comprehend the Prema Bhakthi of the Gopisand also develop such love for the Lord.
The auditorium was filled with nearly 600 plus devotees who were fortunate to be part of this celebration of divine love, and the audience were left in a ecstatic state. They were given with a beautiful souvenir that contained all the Kirtans performed in the ballet and information regarding our satsangs. This grand event was made possible with the grace and blessings of Madhuri Saki Sameda Sri Premika Varadan and Our Guru,His Holiness Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji, and also through the benevolent contributions of our sponsors and the audience for buying the tickets and attending this performance in great numbers. All the proceeds from this event will benefit many dharmic activities through Jaya Hanuman Seva Trust. Our sincere heartfelt thanks to Smt.Uma Rao for being a MC for the entire event. Sri Ramanujamji concluded the evening by recognizing and
felicitating the performers who had worked tireless for this evening, he said its like patting ones own back for a job well done, for the Dallas G.O.D family came together making this event a grand success. Our Radhe Radhe to all the loving hearts who through their thoughts, words and deeds made an ever-lasting impact on all of us.